On The Hunt For Vulnerable Plaque InfraReDx Improves Stenting Safety

Article preview from Start Up- November 01, 2010

Whatever happened to vulnerable plaque? More than a decade ago, vulnerable plaque was a hot topic that was hoped would explain many incidents of sudden cardiac death in patients without other symptoms of coronary artery disease. While many experts believe the theory underlying this concept remains sound, proving its validity and then developing both diagnostic tools to identify what have been called "vulnerable patients" and then therapeutic devices to treat them has turned out to be a difficult and lengthy challenge that remains unsolved. InfraReDx Inc. remains active in this area, and according to CEO and founder James Muller, MD, is closing in on a solution. InfraReDx recently raised $21 million in its Series D financing round.

On The Hunt For Vulnerable Plaque InfraReDx Improves Stenting Safety

Article preview from Start Up- November 01, 2010

Whatever happened to vulnerable plaque? More than a decade ago, vulnerable plaque was a hot topic that was hoped would explain many incidents of sudden cardiac death in patients without other symptoms of coronary artery disease. While many experts believe the theory underlying this concept remains sound, proving its validity and then developing both diagnostic tools to identify what have been called "vulnerable patients" and then therapeutic devices to treat them has turned out to be a difficult and lengthy challenge that remains unsolved.

In the late 1980s, it began to appear that up to 75% of first-time heart attacks weren't predicted by the usual signs of arterial narrowing; they weren't necessarily the result of the slow growth of fibrotic plaques that cause stenosis. It seemed that a different kind of plaque with a particular type of lipid core was at fault; this type of plaque would rupture and cause a thrombus leading to a non-fatal myocardial infarction or cardiac death. Several start-ups were funded ten or so years ago around new technologies for finding these lipid-core plaques, and many have foundered and failed. But one of those early companies, InfraReDx Inc. remains active in this area, and, according to CEO and founder James Muller, MD, is closing in on a solution.

One of the few surviving companies in the field, InfraReDx recently raised $21 million in its Series D financing round, led by returning investor Sanderling Ventures, with the participation of new institutional investors including GMP Securities. [201030454] Proceeds will support the commercial launch of the InfraReDx LipiScan IVUS coronary imaging system, a combined modality for imaging the structure and assessing the chemical composition of coronary artery disease in an image the company calls a chemogram. The LipiScan IVUS system, which is a cardiac catheter that combines near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy with intravascular ultrasound, received FDA 510(k) approval in June, 2010.

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